Kidnappers? Crazy Fans? No, It’s Chinese Parents on Their Kids’ First Day at School

The first day of school is often a major milestone – perhaps more so for parents than for their children. These Chinese parents could not resist the urge to spy on their kids during that first schoolday, which started this week.

“If you spot these kinds of people near a preschool today, there’s no need to worry about them. They’re not bad people, they’re no kidnappers, it’s just that their child has their first day of school,” one Chinese blogger wrote on Weibo this week, as many netizens shared dozens of snapshots of parents doing everything they can to catch a glimpse of their child from outside the classroom.

“Yes! This is exactly how it goes on that first day,” another popular Weibo blogger said.

The ‘no kidnappers’ Weibo post was shared over 33,000 times this week, triggering thousands of reactions from netizens both ridiculing the parents and sympathizing with them, as their separation anxiety is often worse than that of their children.

“My niece first went to kindergarten this week,” one commenter shares: “and as the child next to her was crying she stayed cool and collected and comforted her, saying ‘don’t cry, it’s no use crying over this’.”

There are also people who mention that it is not easy for teachers when parents stand outside while their children are inside, as teachers had to come forward to say they wish the parents would leave. Once the children are finally settled down, they will start crying again upon catching a sight of their parents.

The phenomenon of Chinese parents who cannot say goodbye to their schoolgoing children does not just occur outside kindergartens. Last year, the so-called ‘tents of love’ (爱心帐篷) became a hot topic on Chinese social media.

*“Tents of love”: parents set up their tents at university campus to support their children.*

When students have their first day at college, parents who come from far will often travel along with their children and spent the first days sleeping in tents outside the school. They do this to give their children both emotional and practical support, but perhaps more so to soothe their own separation anxiety.

Both the ‘tents of love’ and the clingy parents outside kindergartens are seen as a modern-day phenomenon by many Chinese web users. Today’s generations of children are nowhere near as independent as the older generations were, many say.

“I went to preschool alone, and I even paid the school tuition myself with the money in my backpack,” one commenter notes.

“We were poor when I was growing up – I never even went to kindergarten,” says one of the many responders to the pictures on Weibo.

But people mostly think the photos of the clingy parents are humorous: “Just look at their posture – they want to see, but they do not want to be seen,” a person says, adding a smiley.